In today’s internet culture full of Facebook pictures, TwitPics, Flickr accounts, and photo blogs, there’s a lot of pressure on the perfect holiday card family photo. How do you make yours rise above the rest? And how do I actually get my kids to cooperate?

 I can’t promise these tips will solve all your problems, but they can offer a helpful point or two so your family comes off as creative, genuine, and fun. If you have any additional tips, please share with a comment below!

Getting Creative

1. Show your family’s personality. Where do you spend the most time? What are some of your favourite things to do individually and as a family? Things unique to your family will make your family just that.
2. Consider props or costumes. Sunglasses, goofy sweaters, family members switching roles, pop culture inspiration, funny commercials, etc can be really fun and give your family the extra “oomf” it’s looking for.
3. Collages of things encapsulating the entire year. You already have tons of great photos, use them! If you want to get really fancy, put a QR code to your Flickr page or blog on your holiday card
4. Stay away from: white shirts and jeans, barns, open fields, and beaches if it’s a staged portrait. Oh, and the all black with black background… Unless you find creative, funny ways to do these. I only say this because Google images showed these portraits frequently enough to be too common to call creative.
5. Plan Early. The ancient saying about failing to plan is planning to fail holds true. Researching on the internet and through old Christmas cards are great sources for inspiration.

Photographing Kids isn’t Easy: Tips for the Closest Picture to Perfect

Half of photography is working the camera, the other half is working with people i.e. your AWESOME family. So, the following are split accordingly.

1. Remember to keep your family the focus! Sometimes it’s easy to accidentally prioritise the setting if it’s something remarkable like a wedding, big sporting event, or amazing sunset.
2. Use Adobe Kuler or Design Seeds for colour coordination if you know your backdrop.
3. Natural lighting is authentic and makes the photo feel more genuine
4. Find some decent shading, but remember to avoid overpowering shadows
5. Think of interactions and pairings in groups of 2-3 that work together as a whole. Neatly organized positioning is orderly and will make your family feel that way. How fun is that?
6. The more people you have, the less you have to think about your background.
7. Use a fast shutter speed to capture your squirrelly ones
8. Try continuous shooting for bigger kids that move around a lot
9. Long lenses are better to hide undesired details… if you want them hidden, that is.
10. Take a LOT of photos. The more you have, the more you can choose from. You don’t want to organise a second photo shoot, do you?

1. Lay babies down with a backdrop that sets the place and feel a little. They can’t exactly do a whole lot, but sometimes simple pictures are most powerful.
2. Kids should be happy! If you know a day or time they’ll already be in a good mood, there’s no convincing for you to do.
3. Create a fun situation to distract your child from the camera. Pictures capturing the moment usually turn out best.
4. Ask your child to tell a funny story or joke – they’re bound to laugh and smile, and it will be genuine too.
5. Base your photos around your kids’ interests. This way, they’ll be more willing to participate in the photo.
6. Let them take a picture for fun. This will get them even more interested in making a great picture.
7. Do NOT show frustration. This will only lead to a tense environment and will show in the finished product.
8. Have something afterwards to look forward to.  An incentive and even bribery is a great motivator for splendid behaviour.
9. Have a neighbour or family friend help out. Your family might be more inclined to show their colourful selves in front of someone they know.
10. Check out gumtree.com for local photographers for cheap, along with local colleges more advanced photography classes. Students are usually pretty good, work well with kids, and will work for cheap!

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